I’m jealous.
I admit it.
You see, I know the difference between an adjective and an adverb. My kids knew the difference between an adjective and an adverb practically from the time they got out of diapers.
But sportscasters on national television – making six-figure salaries for hanging out and shooting the bull about football games – can’t make out why it grates on the ear when they note that a running back is “playing good this year.”
Drive safe on the way back to the hill country, y’all ... er, safe - LY, that is.
He’s having a good year, or he’s playing well. Make up your mind, please.
Close the door tight.
Lee.
Read that book real close.
Lee-Lee ... really closely.
“Lee” was a more or less constant companion in our household when my girls were young.
Once they learned to be careful and speak carefully, that is.
Someone would caution us about the icy roads outside: “Drive slow!”
“Lee,” the girls would giggle back, and I would, indeed, drive slowly on the way home.
It’s in their blood, in their genes. To this day, they know they’ve slept well and had a good night’s sleep. Be good. Behave well.
The artful writer writes artfully.
Heck, a baseball player can even hit a fair ball a fair piece and get a fair contract from an owner who treats him fair.
Lee.
In a nutshell, an adjective modifies a noun and an adverb modifies a verb. An adverb also modifies an adjective (partly cloudy) or another adverb (fairly quickly).
Someone who runs fairly quickly is, after all, a fairly quick runner.
The girls? Well, they’re good kids and they both write well. And that’s good. Makes me proud to be able to write proudly about it. Proud to be able to say it out loud – to stand up and shout loud ....
“Lee,” comes the peevish echo ... peevishly.
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